CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Trading 0.2% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) shares traded up 0.2% on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $69.00 to $73.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. CMS Energy traded as high as $67.67 and last traded at $67.53. 189,589 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 2,302,241 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.41.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. KeyCorp raised their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CMS Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total value of $143,464.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $884,859.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total transaction of $99,986.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,098,433.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total value of $143,464.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $884,859.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 431.3% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $62.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.88. The company has a market cap of $20.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.38.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 13.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 62.80%.

About CMS Energy

CMS Energy Corporation operates as an energy company primarily in Michigan. The company operates through three segments: Electric Utility; Gas Utility; and Enterprises. The Electric Utility segment is involved in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. This segment generates electricity through coal, wind, gas, renewable energy, oil, and nuclear sources.